Every sewing enthusiast has a few UFO’s (un finished objects) hiding somewhere. I think the intro to Annika Victoria’s YouTube Series says it perfectly. Why do you have UFO’s? Sometimes you get bored and move on to something else or you’re not sure how to finish it but most of mine are just things that didn’t work out the way I had planned. You know, you have this total idea about how the finished garment will look and then it doesn’t. I seem to forget I’m not a supermodel with a thin, angular body. When I look in the mirror after a hard day of sewing, I’m never at my best – sweaty hair pulled back into an unflattering bun, probably in my underwear or pj’s and looking like I’ve been scrubbing toilets.
Suffice to say that when I try on my day’s efforts, I’m not at my best. So when things don’t look good, I get a bit pissy. Which is how things end up unfinished and shoved in a box or a drawer or hanging in that bit of the wardrobe you don’t see. But onto my (now finished) UFO’s. I’d totally forgotten about both of them until I was rummaging around in my wardrobe recently. At the time I was pretty upset at these ‘fails’ but when I saw them again, I realized they could be easily fixed. Actually, I get close to completion on most things but if it’s not coming together the way I planned, I tend to abandon ship. Perspective is a funny thing!
So this skirt was a sort of muslin for this green pencil skirt. I had 100% forgotten it existed. But when I was about to embark on a messy DIY (glue, paint, spray polyurethane) that also needed pics of me doing the do that looked cute (the results of that project are in Indie Love issue 2, so stay tuned). I dragged this out, thinking I’d never wear it, so glue and paint would be cool. But it was sooo cute! I had to finish this little (wearable) muslin. The fit is a little different than the green one because it’s from a different draft but it’s essentially the same, just a squinch bigger. The fabric of this one is a stretch woven, so it’s quite comfy. It was mostly finished, I just needed to hand tack the facing to the zipper tape and seam allowances. Once that was done, I had a new skirt!
I love this top, McCalls 6284 but the bust portion came nowhere near covering my bust. #BigBustProblems, my God! And that photo was posed like crazy! I would definitely make this pattern again but would need to seriously alter the bust section to add more depth. I was so disappointed with the fit, I never even hemmed the bottom or the sleeves. The shrug section fitted well, so I decided to just keep it as a shrug. Actually, I might just make this pattern as a shrug. But on my made to the pattern version, the sleeves were an odd length. Like not ¾ but a good inch or two too short to be long sleeve.
I just chopped away the rest of the top and hemmed the back. Rather than just hem the sleeves, I decided to make cuffs with the left over fabric. Then I had an awesome shrug and you know how I love those! Because I have made a few! Find the refashioned version here and the easy but from scratch version here.
I think holding onto your fails can be so worthwhile. As you grow your sewing skills and hone your eye, you can see things differently. I’ve kept most of my fails. I did find one of my earliest fails – it was so bad! I didn’t even like the colour or the fabric and it was completely unwearable. Wonky, visible stitching and just ugly! I had a good belly laugh and threw that one out. But many of my fails have been hauled out and resuscitated. I just have a much better idea of how to proceed these days. So if you are learner, don’t chuck anything just yet! You may pull it out in a couple of years’ time and realize it just needs a tweak to be something worthy of your wardrobe. As always, I’d love to see your fails or fails made into wins, so tag me in in your pics xxx
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